


Ray Today

by cmshaw



Category: due South
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Identity Porn, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-12-28
Updated: 2002-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-21 12:32:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmshaw/pseuds/cmshaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You know, you don't look anything like me," Ray said.<br/>"Great disguise, isn't it?" Ray Vecchio said.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ray Today

The first time Ray woke up in the hospital, Benny was standing at the foot of his bed having an argument with thin air. Damn, it was good to be home. He had a million questions he wanted to ask, but Benny had his teeth in a case and wasn't letting go, so he waved him off to Canada and set about getting out of bed.

* * *

The first time Ray left the hospital, he went right to the police station, because if he knew Benny -- and he did know Benny, as it turned out -- then that stubborn Mountie had dragged his new Ray Vecchio with him to Canada instead of leaving him behind to pick up the paper trail. It meant that the original Ray Vecchio had to drag himself to the police station and pick up the goddamn paper trail himself. He did, but then his eyes rolled back in his head, the floor got a little unsteady, and the next thing he knew he was back in the hospital with a vague memory of some stunning blonde half-carrying him down to her car and into the emergency room.

* * *

The second time Ray woke up in the hospital, Frannie was having a stupid argument on the other side of the curtain around his bed and it was _still_ good to be home.

"Do you see a knight here?" Frannie was saying.

"The knight's supposed to be riding on the horse," said a familiar voice.

"But I don't _see_ a knight on the horse!" Frannie said.

"What, you think the horse just happened to wander onto the field and go where it was needed?"

"Horses are smarter animals than you think," Frannie said.

"Yeah, that's not hard, cuz I think they're pretty dumb. Almost as dumb as calling a chess piece 'horsie'."

Ray pulled aside the curtain and looked out. Frannie and the other Ray Vecchio were bent over a chessboard, and neither one noticed him. Ray considered complaining -- after all, this was his hospital room that they were sitting in -- but it seemed like too much trouble. He had a feeling he wasn't supposed to be awake, because his back hurt like hell.

Frannie deftly moved a chess piece. "Oh yeah?" she said. "Well, my _horsie_ has just put your king in stripe."

"In _check_ ," the other Ray Vecchio said with a sigh.

"Stripes, plaids, I don't care. It's your move," Frannie said.

"Shut up," said the other Ray Vecchio. "I'm thinking." He glanced up toward Ray and smiled ever so slightly, then looked down at the board and tapped his fingers idly. Ray studied him, curious to see how Ray Vecchio looked in blond hair, bad clothes, and heavy glasses. It was a good disguise; he wouldn't have recognized himself walking by on the street. The glasses should have looked nerdy, he thought, but the fact that putting them on turned him, like magic, into the sharpshooter he'd always wanted to be added a sort of deadly flair.

He let the curtain drop back down, and passed out again.

* * *

The second time Ray left the hospital, he went home with his mother, who fussed and fussed and fed him more food than the whole police station could have eaten. Benny snuck in and ate some of it later, at Ray's urging.

"So this new guy you've been working with," Ray said.

Benny tipped his head to the side. "New guy?" he asked.

"'Ray Vecchio'," Ray said, managing to lift his hands up far enough to make quote marks in the air despite having a belly full of stew.

"I've been working with Ray Vecchio for years," Benny said with a little smirk.

Ray rolled his eyes. "So what's he been like recently?"

Benny sat down on the edge of Ray's bed, looking serious. "He's a very good policeman," he said, "and a good friend. I hope you like him, Ray."

"He seems all right," Ray said, which was true. Anybody who took being Ray Vecchio that seriously had probably earned him a hell of a local rep without his having to lift a finger for it, and Ray couldn't begrudge that, even if the clothes would have to be discussed at some point.

"Good," Benny said, nodding.

It seemed important to him, so Ray smiled, and even managed to pat the edge of Benny's hand reassuringly. The yawn which nearly split him in half cost him some cool, though.

"I should let you rest," Benny said. He stood up and retrieved his hat. "I'll see you later, Ray."

* * *

The third time Ray woke up in the hospital, people were yelling over his head, and he was starting to think wistfully of Armando's peaceful room overlooking the desert.

"What the _fuck_ does that mean, allergic reaction? You're a _doctor_ , you shouldn't give him this shit if it's not safe!" For some reason, Ray Vecchio sounded really pissed.

"Ray." That was Benny, in his I'm-the-voice-of-reason voice. "Ray, it wasn't done on purpose."

"Fucking doctor should fucking know better--!"

"Ray!" And Benny came into Ray's line of sight, pushing a glowering Ray Vecchio up against the wall. "He'll be fine. There's no harm done."

"That's correct," said a third voice from the other side of Ray. "You brought him in immediately; that was the best thing you could have done. The wound itself is healing nicely. We'll change his pain medication and we should be able to release him tonight."

"You'd fucking better," Ray Vecchio muttered.

"I apologize for Detective Vecchio," Benny said. "He's concerned, that's all."

"And what is his relation to the patient again?" the third voice said.

"Ah," Benny said, "well, it's a large family..." and Ray decided that this was probably a good time to interrupt before Benny did something complicated like blurting out the truth.

* * *

The third time Ray left the hospital, he left with his sister Maria and the other Ray Vecchio. They helped him carefully into the passenger seat of the most beautiful car he'd ever seen, and then Maria left to pick up more groceries on the way home. Apparently Ma was out of stew.

"Is this a '68 GTO?" he asked.

Ray Vecchio grinned at him. "'67, actually, but we've had to use some parts from '68s to repair her."

Ray leaned back in the seat. "I'm impressed," he said. "Fraser hasn't made you blow it up yet?"

"Not yet," Ray Vecchio said, and they shared a laugh.

"You know, you don't look anything like me," Ray said.

"Great disguise, isn't it?" Ray Vecchio said.

Ray snorted. "What's your name again?"

"Ray Vecchio."

"Come on," Ray said.

"Well, until they tell me otherwise, it's still Vecchio," he said. He shrugged. "Stanley Kowalski," he whispered, "but don't tell anyone."

Ray laughed. "Oh yeah, I remember now. Stanley Kowalski." He shook his head. "You don't look like a Stanley."

"Yeah, that's why everyone but my mother calls me Ray."

"They call you Ray because you're undercover," Ray said.

"Oh, right!" Ray Vecchio said, rolling his eyes. "I forgot. No, I mean my middle name's Ray, so everyone really does call me that."

"Were you really teaching my sister to play chess?" Ray asked.

"Maria?"

"Francesca."

"Yeah, a while back. She's pretty good, actually," Ray Vecchio said.

"You must have some low standards," Ray said.

Ray Vecchio tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and snapped, "I can beat Fraser two games out of three."

Ray looked over at him. Without the sharpshooter glasses, he looked like any punk working night-shift security at a questionable warehouse. "You're smarter than you look, then," he said.

Ray Vecchio said, "It's a good disguise."

* * *

The next time Ray woke up, the first thing he did was check to see where he was.

He wasn't in the hospital.

He opened his eyes to find his own bedroom -- his room, Ray Vecchio's room in Chicago, not even Armando Langoustini's room in Vegas. "Fourth time's the charm," he said, and yawned and stretched. "Ow," he muttered. He sat up cautiously. "Ow, ow, ow, _fuck_."

"Good morning to you too, sunshine," Ray Vecchio said.

Ray twisted around painfully to see the other Ray Vecchio lounging against the door. "What are you doing here?" he said.

Ray Vecchio came around to the side of the bed to help him up and wrap a robe around him. His hands were a lot warmer than the nurses' hands had been, and he was gentler, too. "At the moment, we live here," he said. "And it's Fraser's day to talk about the submarine, so I got invalid duty."

"Lucky you," Ray said. "Help me down the hall to the bathroom, then."

In fact, he spent the day being helped various places by the other Ray Vecchio: down the stairs, up the stairs, back to the police station for paperwork, over to the outpatient clinic to set up physical therapy and mental therapy appointments, down more stairs, up more stairs, and generally all around town. It left him confused, mostly, even beyond the exhausted haze that was starting to lower itself across everything; he'd done undercover before, of course, and so had the other Ray Vecchio, but he'd never had to _double_ someone like this. He felt rather like a vampire, sucking the other guy's life away one signature at a time. Welsh shook the other Ray Vecchio's hand and called him "Stanley". Ray, leaning heavily on Ray Vecchio/Stanley Kowalski's shoulder by this point in the late morning, felt the wince that he couldn't see.

By lunchtime, Ray collapsed gratefully onto his bed when his other half half-led, half-carried him back to his bedroom. "Ooof," he said, staring at the ceiling. "So who are we today, legally?"

The other guy flopped down next to him and propped his feet up on the bedpost. "Fuck if I know," he said. "Weren't you listening either?"

"No," Ray said.

"Hell," the other guy said. "Just call me Ray, then. It's a common name."

"I'll call you anything you want as long as I don't have to get up and go anywhere for a while," Ray said, "particularly not the hospital again."

"Yeah, let's stay out of there," Ray agreed.

Ray turned, trying to get his back comfortable, and ended up rolling more or less completely on top of Ray. After spending most of the day hanging onto Ray's arm or shoulder or waist for dear life, it didn't feel like much of an imposition, and his back felt much better like this. Ray stroked the back of his neck, which felt blissful, and then kissed his cheek, which felt a little odd, and then sighed. That was the last thing Ray noticed before falling asleep again.

* * *

When Ray woke up, he _still_ wasn't in the hospital. That was excellent.

He was kissing somebody. That was also excellent.

He was kissing _himself_. The other Ray. Stanley. Whoever -- they were kissing. And lying in bed together.

Actually, that was still excellent, but he said, "Hey, what's going on?"

"I don't know," the other Ray said. "Weren't you listening either?"

"No," Ray said, confused. "Never mind." He went back to the kissing, which was easier to deal with. "Ow," he said, a few minutes later. "Where's those pain meds?"

The other Ray rolled him carefully onto his side and sat up. "I'll get them," he said. "Wait here."

When he opened the door, Benny poked his head in. "Is he awake?" he whispered.

"Hey Benny," Ray called from the bed, and Benny slipped in as the other Ray left.

"How are you feeling, Ray?" Benny said. "Your mother said you were very tired."

"Yeah, well, you remember what it's like," Ray said.

Benny smiled ruefully. "Indeed I do," he said. "It appears that we're more than even now. I owe you one."

"Tell me something, then," Ray said.

"Anything," Benny said.

"That guy," Ray said, nodding toward the door behind Benny, "is he gay?"

Benny looked away and rubbed his eyebrow nervously, and Ray, hoping that meant "yes", bit his lip. "It's hardly my place to say," Benny said.

"You promised," Ray said.

"You'd do better asking him directly," Benny said.

"So he's gay, then," Ray said.

"No," Benny said.

"He's straight?" Ray said incredulously.

"No," Benny said.

"Well, he's got to be one or the other, Benny," Ray said, irritated. He'd thought for once he was getting a plain answer from the Mountie.

Benny sighed. "You're ignoring bisexuality, Ray," he said.

"Oh," Ray said. He considered that. "Well, that's good enough."

"Good enough for what?" Benny asked just as the other Ray opened the door.

The other Ray rattled the bottle in his hand. "This had better be good enough," he said, "or I'm knocking some doctors' heads together."

"Ray, violence will not ensure good treatment -- quite the opposite," Benny said, and then he fell silent as Ray let the other Ray help him sit up and wash the pills down with a glass of water. Now that he had confirmation that it wasn't the pain meds making him hallucinate, he leaned his head on Ray's shoulder comfortably and relaxed. Ray's arm came up around him to support his shoulders, and he looked up at Benny. Benny swallowed. "Well, I'll go tell your mother that you're ready for lunch, shall I?" he said, and practically ran from the room.

"What was that all about?" Ray asked.

Ray shook his head and pulled away the glasses that Ray had put on to read the prescription on the bottle. "Back injuries make him nervous," he said, and kissed Ray again, setting the glasses aside.

* * *

The last time Ray left the hospital, he walked out under his own power and waved to the man now undercover as Geoffrey Rodriguez, who was waiting for him in the lobby with the GTO parked just outside. "Let's go," he said.

"Where?" Geoffrey Rodriguez asked, putting on his glasses.

"Fuck if I know," Ray said. "Weren't you listening either?" And they got a cheap motel room under a completely different name and had an excellent time.


End file.
